Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Syrian Rejal al-Karamah (Men of Dignity) movement: What happened was a dangerous escalation that threatens civil peace and undermines the trust that authorities have worked hard to establish.
Rejal al-Karamah (Men of Dignity) movement: We condemn in the strongest terms the brutal attack on the city of Sweida and Jabal al-Arab by the Damascus government.
Maduro: We reaffirm that Palestine has the right to exist, resist, and live freely in a fully sovereign state with East al-Quds as its capital.
Maduro: Every bomb dropped on a Palestinian hospital, school, or home not only kills innocent lives but also destroys the foundations of world peace.
Maduro: What we are witnessing today in Gaza and throughout Palestine is not a conflict between equal parties, but rather a systematic plan to destroy a people and eradicate their identity.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro at the Bogota summit: We raise our voices firmly outraged at the world's silence in the face of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians.
Syria: Sources to Al Mayadeen: Israeli airstrikes target supply lines of military factions affiliated with the Syrian Interim Ministry of Defense outside Sweida and around Daraa.
Al-Saadi: There were concerns that Lahham would be placed under administrative detention.
Al-Saadi: The Israeli occupation authorities could not prove any allegations leveled against Nasser Lahham.
Lawyer Oussama al-Saadi: The oppressive Israeli measures of delaying Lahham's release had vengeful motives.

Firms causing packaging pollution accused of 'blatant greenwashing'

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 23 Aug 2022 17:33
4 Min Read

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Mcdonald's, alongside nine other companies and huge corporations, are the main contributors to packaging pollution.

  • x
  • Workers clean up piles of debris and plastic waste brought in by strong waves at Kuta Beach in Bali, Indonesia, on January 1, 2021
    Workers clean up piles of debris and plastic waste brought in by strong waves at Kuta Beach in Bali, Indonesia, on January 1, 2021

Some 4,000 volunteers helping clean up the environment have collected litter along 13,000 miles of coasts, rivers, and green spaces, among many other places, over the past 12 months, which helped compile data for the annual report on packaging pollution by the charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Mcdonald's, alongside nine other companies and huge corporations, are the main contributors to packaging pollution, as their branded packaging was at the top of those that showed up at the spaces cleaned up by the volunteers.

"Year after year, our citizen science brand audit reveals the same huge companies are responsible for the packaging pollution choking our environment," Hugo Tagholm, chief executive of Surfers Against Sewage.

"Despite public sustainability commitments, these dirty brands are failing to take meaningful action to stop this harm," he said.

"We cannot stand for this blatant greenwashing any longer. Systemic change is urgently needed to end the pollution swamping the land and ocean," Tagholm added.

This would levy a charge that would be paid back to customers when they returned drinks containers for recycling.

The volunteers for the survey found 10,843 branded items in total, linked to 264 companies, with 28,727 items recorded overall, including both branded and unbranded items.

A stark ratio of items is comprised of tobacco products, as they made up around %15 of all trash found on beaches.

More than a quarter of the unbranded litter was cigarette butts, polluting soil and beaches with single-use plastic and toxic chemicals, the charity said.

Related News

Microplastics in clouds cause 'plastic rainfall', infect everything

UN warns recycling alone won't solve plastic pollution

A Coca-Cola spokesperson tried to salvage his company's reputation by saying: "We share the goal of eliminating plastic waste from the environment and acknowledge that The Coca-Cola Company has a responsibility to help solve this issue.

"That was the driving force in establishing our 'world without waste' goals, and while we continue to make progress against these targets, we are challenging ourselves to do more," the spokesperson added.

"Over 90% of the packaging we use comes from recycled or renewable sources and can be recycled," said a spokesperson for McDonald's in a similar attempt.

"As a business, we have committed to sourcing all of our packaging from renewable and recyclable materials by 2025."

A Greenpeace survey showed that nearly 100 billion pieces of plastic packaging are thrown away by UK households per year.

Only 12% of the single-use packaging used by households is recycled, as per the results of one of the biggest voluntary researches related to plastic waste.

Households counted their plastic waste for one week in May, as per the request of Greenpeace. Almost 250,000 individuals out of nearly 100,000 households participated and gave their results to Greenpeace and fellow NGO Everyday Plastic.

83% of plastic waste came from food and drink packaging, with the largest proportion being fruit and vegetable packaging.

Read more: 8 Million Tons of Pandemic Plastic Waste

A 2019-study found that the rapid increase of single-use plastic around the world is growing climate impacts and hastening the need to urgently stop it. A research by the Center for International Environmental Law found that almost all plastic is made from fossil fuels, and from its production to the refining and the way it is managed as a waste product, plastic leads to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle.

  • Plastic Waste
  • Pollution
  • plastic
STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

STOP THE HEAT: A Climate Change Coverage

Most Read

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025
An Israeli soldier abandons an excavator during an ambush by al-Qassam Brigades. Arabic text reads "The moment the soldier fled", July, 10, 2025 (Al Qassam Military Media)

Israeli media rue al-Qassam footage, alarmed by fighters among troops

  • Politics
  • 11 Jul 2025
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after an Iranian attack at the al Udeid Airbase outside of Doha, Qatar, June 25, 2025 (Planet Labs PBC via AP)

Satellite images show Iran attack damaged US comms dome in Qatari base

  • Politics
  • 11 Jul 2025
Ukraine’s Corporate Carve-Up Collapses?

Ukraine’s Corporate Carve-Up Collapses?

  • Analysis
  • 11 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Syrian government forces deploy at the Mazraa village on the outskirts of city of Sweida, where clashes erupted between Bedouin clans and Druze factions, southern Syria, Monday, July 14, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Gulf-backed negotiations underway in Syria's Sweida to end clashes

UN: 798 Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid in Gaza
Palestine

UN: 798 Palestinians killed while trying to reach aid in Gaza

A damaged car is seen at a field that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Nabi Sheet village, in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley, Wednesday, August 21, 2024 (AP)
Politics

Hezbollah condemns Israeli Bekaa massacre, urges action from Lebanon

Palestinians walk next to the closed humanitarian aid distribution center of UNRWA, the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees in Jabaliya, Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Israeli regime cuts electricity, water supplies to UNRWA Gaza offices

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS